Gathering Group IntelligenceUpstream is set to go live with a pilot program in five U.S. markets.

When he started his job in June runningthe company charged with estab-lishing a cross-industry platform forcollecting and distributing propertydata, Alex Lange, president and CEOof UpstreamRE, found that clearing upmisconceptions quickly became a toppriority. “There’s been such a vacuumof information about Upstream,” hesays. So Lange, who is based in Seattle,promptly launched a speaking—and lis-tening—tour across the country, meet-ing nearly nonstop with brokers, MLSs,and other stakeholders to clarify whatthe project is—and is not. “This isn’tsome Trojan horse. It’s a service that thebrokers are creating themselves.”That creation process has recentlyentered a new stage of development:the beta test. Sixteen brokerages willget a close look at Upstream this fall.

The offices are spread out over fiveMLSs nationwide: MLSListings Inc.in Santa Clara, Calif., where the betatesters include brokerages PacificUnion International Inc., Keller WilliamsLos Gatos Estates, and RE/MAX Gold;

The five MLSs and various listingdata vendors working in these areas arecurrently testing API keys that link theirsystems with Upstream. Lange saysthey plan to have brokers and agentsentering property data consistent withRESO standards on the platform byOctober. He hopes to have feedback toshare in November at the 2016

REALTORS® Conference & Expo.

The beta test is scheduled to run
through the end of the year and will be
expanded in 2017. Lange, who formerly
was an operating partner with Second
Century Ventures, the National Association of REALTORS®’ strategic investment arm, says this phase will focus on
working out the bugs and eliciting real-time feedback from brokers, agents,
and MLSs interacting with the system.

“Come one, come all; I want to hear ev-erybody’s gripes,” he says. “We need thecollective intelligence of the industry.”Lange is no longer Upstream’s soleemployee; he hired a project coordinatorin July. But he expects the organizationto remain lean. “We’re going to be run-ning this as tightly as we can,” he says.